If you're seeing this message, it means we're having trouble loading external resources on our website.

If you're behind a web filter, please make sure that the domains *.kastatic.org and *.kasandbox.org are unblocked.

Main content

Chivalry in the Middle Ages

Chivalric customs arose from the medieval knight's code of conduct, and were gradually adopted by aristocrats and society as a whole. Learn about the elements of the code and some surprising early applications, as depicted in illuminated manuscripts. Created by Getty Museum.

Want to join the conversation?

  • leaf grey style avatar for user MandoWookieeMajor
    So at the end, the woman narrating says that we never think of the consequences of the use of chivalry, however it is never explained.
    What exactly do you think would have been the consequences?
    (8 votes)
    Default Khan Academy avatar avatar for user
    • leaf orange style avatar for user Jake Suzuki
      The consequences were the reaffirming and reinforcement of social differences.
      The knights could chivalrously flirt, joust and traipse up and down the countryside looking for religous tableware bevause back on their estates they had peasants dirt farming, and getting taxed for the pleasure.
      Chivalry let the upper classes rest their authority on a romantic ideal, they were noble and thus chivalrous and therefore had a right to privilege; they were privileged, thus noble and therefore chivalrous.
      Their actual actions mattered little if they didn't bring censure upon themselves from other nobility; they were in a position of power, and chivalry only strengethened it.
      (8 votes)
  • hopper cool style avatar for user ☣Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ☢ Ŧeaçheя  Simρsoɳ ☢Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ☣
    So many of the same things that make up the code of Chivalry seem to mirror concepts from what I believe to be the much older idea of Bushido, the code of the Samurai. Were the knights the European version of the Samurai, and had the concept migrated from the east? Thanks, T.S.
    (5 votes)
    Default Khan Academy avatar avatar for user
    • aqualine ultimate style avatar for user Matsuyama
      I doubt that would have been the case. Christianity influenced Western Chivalry. Bushido on the other hand was influenced by Buddhism, Confucianism and Shintoism. So while in Europe, knights were hunting using Chivalry, in Japan the samurai were mostly vegetarian. They would have also placed more emphasis on the family and ancestors worship than on a single individual such as a wife or fiancée. Finally the samurai would also have been paid in rice (Koku) rather than money. So it's unlikely, two samurai would have duelled over a debt as shown in the video.
      I can understand you want to find similarities between the two but they are in fact very distinct codes of conduct for the upper classes.
      (3 votes)
  • male robot hal style avatar for user R3hall
    We see in the fight over a debt. Could this element of chivalry carried over into 19th Century U.S. where we see the institution of dueling involving Aaron Burr, Alexander Hamilton, Andrew Jackson and other notable figures?
    (4 votes)
    Default Khan Academy avatar avatar for user
  • leafers tree style avatar for user Ami K
    Where in Europe did chivalry apply to? Where did knights and castles exist?
    (3 votes)
    Default Khan Academy avatar avatar for user
  • blobby green style avatar for user realist.DM
    Alright, it talks about the wide application of chivilary from hunting to tournements to table manners. However, can anyone give specific examples of such manners? For instance, how exactly did the knight have to behave at the table? I get the general stuff, but I want examples because I want to know what exactly we are talking about. I still do not comprehend the concept of chivarly in the context of medieval society if I do not know specific examples. I would be very thankful for an enumeration of manners, which would explain a lot about the Middle Ages.
    (4 votes)
    Default Khan Academy avatar avatar for user
  • female robot ada style avatar for user laila samuel
    What are the consequences for chiverly
    (3 votes)
    Default Khan Academy avatar avatar for user
  • leaf green style avatar for user Gloria Blanchard
    Well one consequence I can think of, is it is al very fine and well to have a gaggle of knights running about fighting your fights from say grabbing that neighboring castle to sending them out to fight your Crusade. Brutal. What do you do when the boys come home. Battle hardened, battle weary.....and still armed? War skillful, war powerful? Your answer? Chivalry!

    Loyalty, Alignance, defense of the weak, and for the terribly bored - Joisting! Good times had by all. No harm done. Just knights. Nobles retain power and get some entertainment, women (and their Lord Husbands) need not fret.

    At the table for instance, if memory serves right, knives which had been a staple tool of eating were banished, spoons and later dull tined forks came into play. Chivalry.
    (3 votes)
    Default Khan Academy avatar avatar for user
  • blobby green style avatar for user Eittoc's N Terraj
    What role does chivalry play in our everyday etiquette today?
    (2 votes)
    Default Khan Academy avatar avatar for user
  • blobby green style avatar for user gelsomina
    at there's a page from a manuscript depicting what seems to be knights in battle, but the text is persian! that's quite odd. can anyone shed a light on that?
    (2 votes)
    Default Khan Academy avatar avatar for user
  • starky tree style avatar for user Katie
    -- What are some examples of these "practical consequences"?
    (2 votes)
    Default Khan Academy avatar avatar for user

Video transcript

- [Voiceover] Think of chivalry, and you might imagine knights in shining armor and damsels in distress. Chivalry originated in ideals associated with a knight's code of conduct. Over time it came to more broadly represent a model for the behavior and moral principles of the upper classes. - [Melanie] We can think of chivalry as a code of honor that really came to fruition in the 11th and 12th centuries, and many of the values that chivalry championed are things that we still value today. Loyalty, bravery, protection of the weak. - [Voiceover] Chivalry wasn't just about gallant acts meant to impress a princess. It widely affected culture from love relationships to hunting, fashion to law. This illustrated E is contained within a medieval law book. You see two knights on horses facing one another. They are about to settle a disagreement over a debt. Hunting was a chance to improve oneself physically and mentally, not unlike the goals of chivalry. - [Melanie] It's typical in these stories that there is an aristocrat or a knight who is in love with a woman of a higher social standing that's already married. It was thought that the man's love for this higher standing woman would have had a civilizing affect on him. Code of honor provided a means for aristocrats to kind of move up the social ladder. If they knew these rules, if they knew how to behave in a tournament or how to dress for a banquet, then that was a way of displaying one's social standing. But it's the nature of having rules like this that certain people are left out of that club. Because we have such romantic notions of what chivalry is, we don't tend to think of the practical consequences of chivalry during this period.